International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Determination of the Relationship between Usage of Social Networks and Learning
Styles
Res.Assist. Can MEŞE Res.Assist. H. İbrahim HASESKİ Assoc.Prof.Dr. Adile Aşkım KURT
Anadolu University Anadolu University Anadolu University
E-posta: canmese@anadolu.edu.tr E-posta: hihaseski@anadolu.edu.tr E-posta: aakurt@anadolu.edu.tr
Res.Assist. Esra BARUT
Süleyman Demirel University
E-posta: esrabarut@anadolu.edu.tr
Abstract
Social networking, which is being used by people of all ages today, is the most widespread
Web 2.0 technology. It is important in information and communication technologies for
providing individuals with environments to express themselves efficiently and share ideas.
Communication and interaction features of social networking offer opportunities in a virtual
environment for teaching-learning process in both individual and group studies. In the process
of individualizing instruction and making instruction more effective, consideration of
individual differences like learning styles is an important factor supporting effective,
productive and attractive learning. This study aims to point out the relationship between
learning styles and individuals’ usage of social networks that provide individualized
information sharing opportunities. For this purpose, data was collected via a social
networking questionnaire and learning styles index developed by Felder, from 301
undergraduates studying at Manisa Celal Bayar University in 2012-2013 academic year.
According to the results, there is a medium level, positive and meaningful relationship
between the average scores in “active” score of the learning styles index and the items in the
social networking questionnaire (r= .329, p< .001). Furthermore, there is a low level positive
relationship between the average scores in “visual” score of the index and average scores of
questionnaire items related to visual domain (r= .172, p< .001). There were no meaningful
relationships for the other domains.
Keywords: Social Networking, Learning Style, Learning Style Index
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